The 1981 Masters Tournament was the 45th Masters Tournament, held April 9–12 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. Tom Watson won his second green jacket and fifth major title by two strokes over Jack Nicklaus and Johnny Miller.

Five-time champion Nicklaus shot a bogey-free 65 on Friday and led by four strokes after 36 holes, but a 75 on Saturday put him a stroke behind Watson entering the final round. It was the fourth runner-up finish for Nicklaus at the Masters and the third for Miller. Nicklaus won his sixth Masters five years later in 1986 at age 46.

Defending champion Seve Ballesteros shot 154 (+10) and missed the cut by six strokes; he also missed the cut as defending champion in 1984. Lee Trevino, needing a green jacket to complete the career grand slam, also shot 154 with an ailing back. His best finishes at Augusta were tenth place ties in 1975 and 1985.

Greg Norman, age 26, appeared in his first Masters and was fourth, the first of his eight top-five finishes at Augusta. He was runner-up three times, in 1986, 1987, and 1996.

This was the first Masters with bentgrass greens, which were formerly Bermuda and ryegrass.

Field 1. Masters champions Tommy Aaron, George Archer, Seve Ballesteros (3,8), Gay Brewer, Billy Casper, Charles Coody, Raymond Floyd (8,11), Doug Ford, Bob Goalby, Jack Nicklaus (2,3,4,9,10), Arnold Palmer (8), Gary Player (8), Sam Snead, Art Wall Jr., Tom Watson (3,8,9,11), Fuzzy Zoeller (8,12)

Jack Burke Jr., Jimmy Demaret, Ralph Guldahl, Claude Harmon, Ben Hogan, Herman Keiser, Cary Middlecoff, Byron Nelson, Henry Picard, and Gene Sarazen did not play.

The following categories only apply to Americans

2. U.S. Open champions (last five years) Hubert Green (8,12), Hale Irwin (9,11,12), Andy North (8,9), Jerry Pate (8)

3. The Open champions (last five years) Johnny Miller (11)

4. PGA champions (last five years) John Mahaffey (11,12), Dave Stockton, Lanny Wadkins (12)

5. 1980 U.S. Amateur semi-finalists Jim Holtgrieve (7,a), Bob Lewis (a), Hal Sutton (6,7,a), Dick von Tacky (a)

6. Previous two U.S. Amateur and Amateur champions Jay Sigel (7,a)

Mark O'Meara forfeited his exemption by turning professional.

7. Members of the 1980 U.S. Eisenhower Trophy team Bob Tway (a)

8. Top 24 players and ties from the 1980 Masters Tournament Andy Bean (10,11,12), Jim Colbert, Ben Crenshaw (11), Ed Fiori, Gibby Gilbert, Jay Haas, Tom Kite (11,12), Billy Kratzert (11), Gil Morgan (9,10,12), Larry Nelson (11,12), Calvin Peete, Jack Renner, Jim Simons, J. C. Snead

9. Top 16 players and ties from the 1980 U.S. Open Keith Fergus, Joe Hager, Mark Hayes (12), Lon Hinkle (10), Joe Inman, Pat McGowan, Mike Morley, Mike Reid, Bill Rogers (10,11), Ed Sneed, Craig Stadler, Curtis Strange (10,11), Lee Trevino (10,11,12), Bobby Wadkins

10. Top eight players and ties from 1980 PGA Championship Howard Twitty (11), Bobby Walzel

11. Winners of PGA Tour events since the previous Masters John Cook, Bob Gilder, Phil Hancock, Scott Hoch, Peter Jacobsen, Wayne Levi, Bruce Lietzke, Mark Pfeil, Don Pooley, Scott Simpson, Mike Sullivan, Doug Tewell

12. Members of the U.S. 1979 Ryder Cup team Lee Elder

13. Foreign invitations Isao Aoki (9), Bruce Devlin (9), Duncan Evans (6,a), David Graham (4,8,11), Dan Halldorson (11), Sandy Lyle, Jack Newton (8), Greg Norman, Norio Suzuki

Numbers in brackets indicate categories that the player would have qualified under had they been American.

Round summaries First round Thursday, April 9, 1981 PlacePlayerScoreTo parT1 Lon Hinkle 69 −3 Johnny Miller Greg Norman Curtis Strange T5 Isao Aoki 70 −2 John Cook David Graham Hubert Green Jim Holtgrieve (a) Jack Nicklaus Jim Simons Source:

Second round Friday, April 10, 1981 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Jack Nicklaus 70-65=135 −9 T2 Lon Hinkle 69-70=139 −5 Bruce Lietzke 72-67=139 Greg Norman 69-70=139 Tom Watson 71-68=139 T6 David Graham 70-70=140 −4 Hubert Green 70-70=140T8 Jim Colbert 73-68=141 −3 John Cook 70-71=141 Peter Jacobsen 71-70=141 Johnny Miller 69-72=141 Source:

Third round Saturday, April 11, 1981 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Tom Watson 71-68-70=209 −72 Jack Nicklaus 70-65-75=210 −6 3 Greg Norman 69-70-72=211 −5 T4 Bruce Lietzke 72-67-73=212 −4 John Mahaffey 72-71-69=212T6 John Cook 70-71-72=213 −3 Ben Crenshaw 71-72-70=213 Lon Hinkle 69-70-74=213 Peter Jacobsen 71-70-72=213 T10 Gay Brewer 75-68-71=214 −2 David Graham 70-70-74=214 Hubert Green 70-70-74=214 Johnny Miller 69-72-73=214 Jerry Pate 71-72-71=214 Dave Stockton 72-72-70=214 Lanny Wadkins 72-71-71=214 Source:

Final round Sunday, April 12, 1981

Final leaderboard Champion Silver Cup winner (low amateur)(a) = amateur(c) = past champion Top 10PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney (US$)1 Tom Watson (c) 71-68-70-71=280 −8 60,000T2 Johnny Miller 69-72-73-68=282 −6 30,500 Jack Nicklaus (c) 70-65-75-72=2824 Greg Norman 69-70-72-72=283 −5 16,000T5 Tom Kite 74-72-70-68=284 −4 12,667 Jerry Pate 71-72-71-70=2847 David Graham 70-70-74-71=285 −3 11,167T8 Ben Crenshaw 71-72-70-73=286 −2 9,667 Raymond Floyd (c) 75-71-71-69=286 John Mahaffey 72-71-69-74=286 Leaderboard below the top 10PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)T11 George Archer (c) 74-70-72-71=287 −1 7,333 Hubert Green 70-70-74-73=287 Peter Jacobsen 71-70-72-74=287 Bruce Lietzke 72-67-73-75=287T15 Gay Brewer (c) 75-68-71-74=288 E 5,500 Bob Gilder 72-75-69-72=288 Gary Player (c) 73-73-71-71=288 Jim Simons 70-75-71-72=288T19 Don Pooley 71-75-72-71=289 +1 4,500 Curtis Strange 69-79-70-71=289T21 John Cook 70-71-72-77=290 +2 3,600 Gil Morgan 74-73-70-73=290 Calvin Peete 75-70-71-74=290 Lanny Wadkins 72-71-71-76=290T25 Jim Colbert 73-68-74-76=291 +3 2,700 Hale Irwin 73-74-70-74=291 Wayne Levi 72-71-73-75=291T28 Gibby Gilbert 71-71-76-74=292 +4 2,350 Lon Hinkle 69-70-74-79=292 Sandy Lyle 73-70-76-73=292T31 Bruce Devlin 74-72-72-75=293 +5 2,013 Jay Haas 75-71-72-75=293 Jack Renner 73-72-73-75=293 Dave Stockton 72-72-70-79=293T35 Jay Sigel (a) 72-75-75-72=294 +6 0 Mike Sullivan 72-74-74-74=294 1,800T37 Keith Fergus 76-72-75-72=295 +7 1,617 Scott Hoch 73-70-75-77=295 Bill Rogers 76-72-75-72=295T40 Charles Coody (c) 74-71-75-76=296 +8 1,500 Bob Lewis (a) 77-70-73-76=296 0 Howard Twitty 75-72-74-75=296 1,500T43 Craig Stadler 76-71-73-77=297 +9 1,500 Fuzzy Zoeller (c) 77-70-78-72=297T45 Isao Aoki 70-76-77-77=300 +12 1,500 Norio Suzuki 74-74-75-77=30047 Jim Holtgrieve (a) 70-77-79-75=301 +13 048 Tommy Aaron (c) 77-71-76-79=303 +15 1,500CUT Andy Bean 75-74=149 +5 Ed Fiori 72-77=149 Dan Halldorson 76-73=149 Mark Pfeil 74-75=149 Scott Simpson 77-72=149 Bobby Wadkins 73-76=149 Lee Elder 77-73=150 +6 J. C. Snead 72-78=150 Mark Hayes 76-75=151 +7 Pat McGowan 73-78=151 Larry Nelson 78-73=151 Mike Reid 76-75=151 Bob Tway (a) 75-76=151 Jack Newton 79-73=152 +8 Joe Inman 74-79=153 +9 Mike Morley 76-77=153 Arnold Palmer (c) 75-78=153 Ed Sneed 81-72=153 Doug Tewell 79-74=153 Bobby Walzel 75-78=153 Seve Ballesteros (c) 78-76=154 +10 Billy Casper (c) 76-78=154 Joe Hager 81-73=154 Lee Trevino 77-77=154 Doug Ford (c) 79-76=155 +11 Bob Goalby (c) 80-75=155 Andy North 82-73=155 Sam Snead (c) 77-78=155 Hal Sutton (a) 80-75=155 Art Wall Jr. (c) 76-79=155 Billy Kratzert 83-75=158 +14 Phil Hancock 82-77=159 +15 Duncan Evans (a) 81-79=160 +16 Dick von Tacky (a) 76-85=161 +17

Sources:

Scorecard Hole 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 101112131415161718Par454343454 443545344 Watson −7−8−8−8−8−7−7−8−7−7−7−7−7−7−8−8−8−8 Miller −3−4−4−3−3−2−2−3−4−3−3−3−4−5−5−5−6−6 Nicklaus −6−6−6−6−6−6−5−5−4−4−4−4−5−4−5−6−6−6 Norman −5 −5 −4 −4 −4 −4 −5 −5 −5 −3 −3 −3 −4 −4 −5 −5 −5 −5 Kite E E −1 −1 E E E E E E E −1 −2 −2 −3 −3 −4 −4 Pate −2 −3 −4 −3 −3 −2 −2 −2 −2 −3 −3 −1 −2 −2 −3 −3 −4 −4 Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par Source:

References

External links Masters.com – past winners and results Augusta.com – 1981 Masters leaderboard and scorecards